Important story about a tough subject. I cannot imagine being in the situation of the main character, but the author does a fantastic job of putting us right there. Anyone with a heart will feel empathy with tgis story. Well done. 🙂

So, so amazing. There are hardly words. I love Jamie Sumner but this was out of the park. Make sure you have tissues. Coming from an elementary school library background (located right by the front doors of the school) we should never have to have these sorts of drills with our children, but we do. All the time. We need more books like this and we desperately need EVERYONE to read them and Please, Please. Pay. Attention.

What a well done, and important, story! Use of the verse format makes for an accessible telling about trauma, healing, and doing something to make change. In light of the topic, Sumner has given readers a peek into what students with mobility issues might be feeling/experiencing during the various safety drills they participate in every year. Bringing this awarness to children and grown-ups alike make this a title everyone should read.

A great novel-in-verse showing the loss, grief, and trauma Bea faces after there is a school shooting. Bea is traumatized and doesn’t want to talk about it, and so her mom suggests Therapeutic horseback riding. Her life is good, if not perfect, before a shooter enters her private school, kills several people, and changes everything in her life forever. She grieves and feels helpless. Her mother wisely finds a wonderful way to cope. A perfect read.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC of this book.

As someone who educates kids and whose school shares a campus /was next door to MSD in 2018, gun violence is not a topic I can ignore. This middle grade book centered around a 13 year old with cerebral palsy highlights that when we are told to do these drills, kids with disabilities are not considered. Which is a shame because there is so much going on from both the adult (teacher ‘s perspective) versus the student’s. Teachers are told where the “safe space “ aka no windows / doors nearby are located yet this doesn’t shed any assistance on how to make that accommodation necessary for those with disabilities. Although the actual violence is minimally noted, it still made me react with silent tears. No one should have to experience violence at a young age. I appreciated the use of equine therapy as an outlet for Bea. I have been a volunteer helping adults with disabilities using horses to engage them so this was a great addition. I just wish there was a tad more character development / backstory explanation on some of the side characters / how did Max end up with Bea post birth & I think the in verse format while wonderfully accessible stunted that a tad.

I hate that school shootings exist. Hate that we value gun access more than the lives of innocent littles. Reading this book was bitter sweet. It helps people see a school shooting from a survivor’s lens. It focuses on the innocent victims more than people seeking fame through others pain.

Beatrix is a young girl with cerebral palsy who attends a private school. Her world is rocked when a shooter attacks her school and five people die. Told through a series of letters in verse, “Please Pay Attention” grabs you and pulls you into a world no one wants to visit. Your heart aches for Bea and Max.

Solid writing. Inspired by a true event in Tennessee. May we change the things we can to protect the innocent.

Thank you to Jamie Sumner, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, and Netgalley for providing me with a digital ARC. All thought and feelings are my own.

This is a definite add if I get another chance to teach minority history. Our protagonist - a sixth grader who uses a wheelchair - experiences a school shooting. To the people complaining that this is "too heavy" for a middle grade students or that they are "too young" to write to the governor - you are obviously far removed from children this age. They, and younger ones, go through active shooter drills regularly. And they think about what to do. This is already on their radar. Also, was I the only one who had to write letters to my representatives in school? I remember doing so in elementary school in the 1980s.

This view of someone in a wheelchair is so important! As a teacher who has run those active shooter drills, the police are ALWAYS stunned with the question of what to do with our people with mobility issues. Their inevitable answer - you have to leave them to save yourself and the other kids. No teacher I know is satisfied with that response.

I am a fan of the novel in verse, and it is especially good for this topic. Definitely will recommend this to those who liked Me: Moth if they will be good with the younger subject. Because the topic is heavier, this is one of those middle grade novels that works older as well, especially for the quickness of the read. Pick it up!

Bea is a 5th grader with Cerebral Palsey who uses a wheelchair to get around. She goes to a private Christian school that falls victim to a school shooting. This novel in verse covers the lead up to the shooting, how Bea and her community handle the aftermath of the shooting, and a little bit about life with Cerebral Palsey.

As a lifelong wheelchair user, I'm so glad this book exists! This is a great read for both disabled and able bodied Middle grade kids. It's also a great read for adults. I like that it doesn't shy away from some of the difficulties of being a wheelchair user and navigating in a world that isn't built for folks like us. All of the characters are extremely likeable and the plot moves at a decent clip, so it's a quick, albeit heavy, read. The topics are discussed in an engaging way that I think will help kids tremendously. The serious moments are balanced out with some comic relief from our main character. I highly recommend this for both Middle grade as well as adult readers.

My thanks to Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, the author, and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

A powerful and moving middle grade novel in verse about gun violence, disability, trauma, and horse therapy. Bea, a main character who has CP and rolls in a wheelchair, shares her life story before and after a school shooting in a captivating narrative. After it happens, Bea can’t forget that she was the only student who couldn’t take cover, all because of her wheelchair. Now she can’t sleep because of nightmares, and she doesn’t want to go to back to school. Her mom puts Bea in her horse therapy which helps Bea begin the slow process of recovery and healing. I loved every second of this heartfelt, important story.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book!

This was heavy and powerful and left me sitting in a reflective state of contemplation.

I think this is such a necessary book that is going to have a profound impact on each reader. I appreciate the vulnerability of tackling this topic and hope it finds as many people as possible to touch too.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC for this book. This is an important read for this generation of students. The characters are relatable and present a perspective that isn't often heard.

I'm not quite sure how to review this one given the nature of the content. This was a truly challenging read, and while I appreciate the care Jamie Sumner took in writing this book, I had a hard time getting through it. That is not to say that I don't think this book is important or well written. It is and it was.

What I most appreciated about this book:
- The character development: For such a short book, Sumner successfully introduces a whole cast of lovable characters whom I immediately cared about.
- The protagonist perspective: I'm so grateful to Jamie Sumner for providing the perspective of a disabled protagonist, specifically as she experiences an emergency that requires her to flee or take cover. Too often, non-disabled people fail to consider how situations can be experienced in a completely different way by disabled individuals, and Please Pay Attention highlights this within the context of a school shooting.
- The call for empathy: Much of the narrative is written as a missive to local governance asking for more protection against school shootings. Some of these moments were absolutely heart-wrenching, particularly when the protagonist pauses the narrative to call on adults to consider how they would feel in a given situation (e.g. trying to find their own children in the aftermath of a shooting).

CW: school shooting, gun violence, death

Thank you to Atheneum Books and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Please Pay Attention by Jamie Sumner is a beautifully crafted work. This work portrays the raw realities of a school shooting as well as the after effects of such a tragic event. The narrator is Bea, a sixth grader with cerebral palsy forcing her to navigate the world from a wheelchair. She speaks honestly and powerfully offering an overlooked perspective.in most stories. This is an eye opening prescriptive discusses the shortfalls of schools, safety protocols, and societal views of such events and individuals.
I highly recommend this work!

The main character is a 6th grader with cerebral palsy that is wheelchair bound. She experiences a school shooting where her teacher and some other younger students are killed. Her mom is the school nurse, so they have to learn how to cope with this grief together. It is a beautifully written novel in verse that I would recommend for grades 4 and up.

Incredibly powerful novel-in-verse written from the point of view of a late elementary school student who survives a school shooting! The subtle, but necessary changes in time across sections of the book are easy to access for middle-grade readers and the tragedy is written in a clear, but careful manner appropriate for the intended age range. A story of death, grief, growth, and the wide variety of emotions the main character rides before and after the horrible, fateful day at her school, this is one not to be missed.

Well written, well thought out, and moving, "Please Pay Attention" is far less depressing than it has any right to be. The subject matter is dreadful, important and terrifying, but the characters at the center of this novel are solid, supportive and sensitive. I expected to be heartbroken, but I finished the novel hopeful, and engaged, which I think means the author achieved their purpose.

This is one of the most gorgeous novels in verse I have ever read. It was heart wrenching my beautiful and an incredible story.

content warnings: school shooting, grief, ableism

there is a before and after for bea coughlin, an eighth grader with cerebral palsy. before the school shooting that took the lives of her teacher and classmates, and after, when she has to figure out how to keep going. as she learns to heal from this traumatic event, she finds the bravery to demand change.

with how prevalent school shootings, and discussion around them, are, many of our discussions leave out disabled people. this is true for other emergencies, too; there are almost never solid plans to get disabled people to safety should a fire or severe weather happen. this is something bea reflects on a lot throughout this book. as a wheelchair user, she felt helpless during lockdown, when her classmates were taking cover and she needed help. when she finds equine therapy, she begins to find the courage to speak up against school shootings and how disabled people are often disregarded in our society. this was a novel in verse, and i thought that was a great choice. bea had a lovely voice. i highly recommend this book.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a very quick read. It only took me a day. This was a very emotional book and does involve a school shooting so it won’t be for everyone but it is so well written. You become very attached to the characters and you want everything to turn out ok for them. Even though you know it won’t. Not for everyone. The author does a fantastic job describing the scene and what the main character is feeling. The emotions are high and the feelings are raw. It is a tough book to read at times but it is also worth it.

If all the adults who needed to read this did, and then effected the change that is entirely within their power to make, we would never need another book like this. In the meantime, shamefully, there are tens of thousands of children in the US (more?) who will benefit from this story, having in common with our heroine the history of surviving a school shooting—something no child should ever need to face. This is what we call a preventable problem. Aren’t there enough things that are out of our control in this world already? I read this story with an overwhelming feeling of sorrow and a deep appreciation for Sumner’s gift: her ability to write through her own grief, crafting a moving and compelling story that is also a necessary call to action.